title: Experiences with endosulfan mass poisoning in rural areas.
abstract: This paper describes very rare chemical poisoning and characteristics of patients with acute endosulfan mass poisoning in a rural area of Turkey and our experiences of these patients. We included 41 patients who were treated in our hospital with the diagnosis of endosulfan poisoning. After the first vital intervention they were examined in terms of age, sex, symptoms and physical examination findings, laboratory results, treatment and outcome. Forty-one patients were admitted to the emergency department (ED) after triage. Nineteen (46.3%) of the patients were female, 22 (53.7%) were male. The mean age was 27.9+/-16.0 years (1-67 years). The mean time to the ED was 4.1+/-0.9 h (3-6.5 h). The most common symptoms were anxiety (97.6%), nausea (56.1%) and vomiting (48.8%). Tests of the blood samples obtained at the ED revealed leucocytosis (11 070.6+/-4302.5/microl), increased blood glucose, LDH, CK and CK-MB levels. Toxicological analysis of blood and urine samples revealed endosulfan as the causative agent. Especially in the rural areas, cases with acute repetitive seizures should suggest endosulfan intoxication when the aetiology is uncertain even in the absence of any signs of intoxication. Health care professionals should understand the hazards associated with the pesticide use as well as diagnosis and treatment of these types of poisonings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey. polatdurukan@gmail.com
authors.forename: Polat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durukan
authors.forename: Caglar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coskun
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ikizceli
authors.forename: Aliye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esmaoglu
authors.forename: Selim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurtoglu
authors.forename: Muhammet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guven
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004726:Endosulfan / Q000506:poisoning*; D005260:Female; D005751:Gastric Lavage; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007306:Insecticides / Q000506:poisoning*; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology; D012424:Rural Population; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D014421:Turkey; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides; D004726:Endosulfan